By Mike London

mike.london@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — Catawba’s men’s basketball team knew it wasn’t going to stop Lenoir-Rhyne star Keenan Palmore, a transfer from Old Dominion, and it probably wasn’t going to contain him.
So the Indians had an unusual game plan for Wednesday’s South Atlantic Conference game at Goodman Gym.
“We wanted to make him beat us by himself,” Catawba coach Rob Perron explained.
Palmore had a triple-double when the Bears outscored Catawba, 92-83, in Hickory.
He was great again, but this time his 33 points and eight rebounds weren’t enough. Catawba won, 105-98, in a sizzling shootout that pushed the Indians into fourth place in the SAC standings.
“We just keep clawing our way up,” Perron said.
Sophomore swing man Jameel Taylor was the catalyst for the Indians, playing 38 ironman minutes and answering Palmore’s stream of buckets with a career-high 29 points and 10 rebounds of his own.
“Palmore is so quick and he was going to get his,” Taylor said. “He’s a great guard and I just tried to make him work for what he got. If you don’t talk constantly, he’s going to use a screen and score every time.”
Guard Will Perry also caused significant problems for the Indians. He made five 3-pointers in the second half and scored 19 of his 27 points after the break.
But Catawba (10-11, 8-7) was able to offset L-R’s two scorers with balance. All 10 Indians who played scored. Jerrin Morrison (17), Andrew Ingram (12), Rakeen Brown (11) and Vismantas Marijosius (11) joined Taylor in double figures.
“Just a really big win for us against a good team with a lot of weapons,” Perron said. “We do control our own destiny now as far as finishing in the top four in the league, but we’ve got five of our last seven on the road. We’ve moved up to the front seat, but we’re not driving yet.”
Despite the final score, the first half was mostly about defense. Catawba did a fine job of contesting 3-point shooters, and Lenoir-Rhyne shot 4-for-17 from long distance. That enabled Catawba, which led by as many as 10 in the first half, to carve out a 40-35 halftime lead.
“We limited our turnovers, carried out the gameplan and won a lot of the individual battles,” Taylor said. “Our big guys won inside. Troy Warren (nine points, eight rebounds) had a great game.”
Catawba never lost the lead in the second half, although the Indians never could achieve any security or separation. Lenoir-Rhyne shot 65.7 percent in the second half and just kept coming, but Catawba shot 61.3 percent and kept managing to answer.
When Warren missed two free throws and Perry bombed in another 3-pointer with 2:31 left, Catawba’s lead was down to 92-90.
Morrison responded with the biggest shot of the game with 1:58 remaining. He took a pass from Ingram and drilled a 3-pointer from the left corner, right in front of the Catawba bench. He made that pivotal shot with Perry’s hand in his face.
Then Palmore missed two free throws — that happens once a year — and Brown knocked down two clutch free ones to put Catawba back in command. L-R had to foul down the stretch, and Catawba did well enough on free throws (28-for-36) to stay ahead.
“Taylor missed two free throws late, so he only went 8-for-10 at the line,” Perron said with a smile. “He’s mad at himself about it. That’s a good sign.”
It was the best team win of the year for the Indians. Ben Sealey and Reggie Perkins jumped off the bench to make 3-pointers, and Jeremy McLaughlin and Julian Sampah combined for 10 rebounds.
It was an entertaining game, with the teams combining for only 16 turnovers. One of the folks watching from court-side was legendary former coach Sam Moir, for whom the court is named, and he was having a good time.
Perron also was smiling, mostly about Taylor’s powerful performance.
“The funny thing is he came here as a defensive guy,” Perron said. “Like a lot of our guys, he’s showing growth. He keeps adding to his game.”

LENOIR-RHYNE (98) — Palmore 33, Perry 27, Lucas 9, Evans 7, Bales 6, Noyes 5, Miller 4, Chambers 4, Leskovar 3, Stenborg.
CATAWBA (105) — Taylor 29, Morrison 17, Ingram 12, Marijosius 11, Brown 11, Warren 9, Perkins 5, McLaughlin 4, Sampah 4, Sealey 3.

Lenoir-Rhyne     35   63    — 98
Catawba       40    65   — 105